hOw Is iT wORkInG oR tO bE tRaiNed In PilipinaS mAkRo Inc- HeaD oFFiCe
Thursday, October 25th, 2007On the Job Training is required by the school or training program curriculum as a pre requisite for graduating students like me. It refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relates to specific useful skills. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at technical colleges and polytechnics.
As a future Human Resources Practitioner, I really waited for this training. I was really so excited about this because finally after three (3) years of studying different management theories our school will send me out to be train in a certain company where I can apply all the things that I’ve learned from the past years.
Actually, Our College Dean who also happened to be our Class Adviser, Prof. Sheila C. Guico, gave us five (5) letters of referral for different companies located in Muntinlupa City namely Philippine National Bank (PNB-Poblacion), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-Alabang), Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company (Philamlife- Alabang),Philippine Long Distance Company (PLDT-Muntinlupa) those four (4) companies declined us because there is no vacancy yet for trainees. The last letter of referral given to us was for Makro Pilipinas Inc. in Sucat,
Muntinupa
City
.
Honestly, I didn’t planned and intended to be a trainee in Makro. I don’t like the ambience of working in a supermarket setting. My question was what am I going to do here? Am I going to be a bagger? All those questions keep babbling in my mind when I first stepped- in at Makro to give the referral letter from school. To be exact, it was
July 10,2007
. We first went in Makro Head Office but the attendant told us that they are not accepting trainees there. When I heard it I was so happy, but the thing is the attendant referred us at Makro -Store Personnel Department (SPD) so we went there. When we got there we gave the letter to the Personnel Officer and while waiting I was praying for rejection because for some unknown reason I really don’t want to be trained there. Finally, after waiting for thirty (30) minutes, the Store Personnel Officer, Ma’am Shirley gave us the necessary requirements like Barangay Clearance, Sedula, and NBI Clearance so it means we are accepted. She told us that we have to complete it so we can start. And I was really so disappointed about that thing. For once I was really excited for my OJT, but I’ve lost the fire. During that time I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t have any drive. I don’t have any passion. I’m just going through the motions and almost cry.
Our "firsts" is always memorable.
July 31, 2007
was my first day as a formal trainee in Makro. It was not really that good because it’s a "waiting day" for me as well as for my co-trainees. I arrived at exactly
8 o’clock
in the morning to report in the SPD. Ma’am Shirley, is not yet around during that time and according to her assistant she’ll be late. After one (1) hour of waiting her assistant called us and give us our respective department and our superior’s name and designation as well. Our department is in Makro Pilipinas Inc., Head Office. My superior is Ms. Mairen Macatangay, HR Assistant of Human Resource Department. So from the SPD I went in Makro Head Office to look for my superior. After waiting again for thirty (30) minutes my superior attended me, she was very sorry for letting me wait because that time she was very busy. She was handling two (2) offices during that time. One at the HR Department and the other one is at the Finance Department. Makro then is under transition, transferring one department to different location for a better workplace. She let me seat down ask for my résumé then ask me what would be my scheduled time to report in Makro. I told her I’m going to report every Tuesday and Thursday. She told me that their office hour is from
8:30
in the morning till
5:30
in the afternoon. I also have to report on the said time and lunch break is from
12:00
noon
till
1:00
in the afternoon. The reward is that we are entitled for free meal worth Php 36.00 each. It was a blessing on our part because not every company give that kind of incentives for student trainees and another blessing is that we are being trained in a multi national company.
My first job was all paper works. Sorting alphabetically the names and descending dates when the application for leave, overtime, under time, medicine reimbursement, field itinerary, extra work allowance and other related papers concerning 201 Files of Makro employees both for head office and 15 other stores from different part of the Philippines and then I’m going to file it in the filing cabinet. My superior told me that what I’m going to do is all confidential so I need to be careful. Headache, super silent mode and tired feeling somehow make me cry and I told myself "welcome to the real world." I told God that if this will be the kind of work I’m going to do in the future (full of paper works) I’d rather study study and study what a silly prayer, maybe because that time my mind setting is I don’t want in Makro. But as times passes by, I came to realize that I must love what I have right now because it might not happen again. I must treasure the days and times I’m spending in the office. Everyday is a new beginning and a fresh start. The fire that I’ve lost once is again burning inside of me because I know every time I will report in office I will acquire and learn something new. Another thing that keeps of moving forward is the friendship I am building with the new people in my new world. It is really true that God will send you out in a place where you do not want to go it is not because He wants us to suffer but because He has so much in store for us. And true enough I realized that I should be thankful that I once became a trainee in Makro.
Before I just used to watched people whose working in a photocopying center doing their jobs but in Makro I learned how to operate it and experienced it. The first time my superior asks me to photocopy certain file, I was so scared because I don’t know how to operate it. Thanks to Ma’am Vera (the machine is located in her office) she taught me how to use it and from that day on every time the superiors in office will ask of to photocopy certain file I get so excited. The scary feeling transformed into excitement. Another thing I learned from Makro was "HOW TO TRANSFER A CALL." Ma’am Beth (HR Manager) taught me how to transfer a call and it’s very simple and easy.
Of course, if there are fun learning experience there are also sad learning memories. I unnoticeably removed the executive 201 files from the filing cabinet and put it in a box and labeled it as "Archive Files" wherein it should only be the resigned employees 201 files should be removed. Ma’am Mai (HR Assistant and my superior) jokingly told of that she will not give me a passing grade because of that mistake. Lesson Learned from that: "Listen carefully to the instructions that are being given, as much as possible take down notes so you won’t forget."
September 20, 2007
is the most unforgettable learning experience I’ve ever had during my stay in Makro. It was a terrifying day, I remember I blushed because I’m so scared. What happened is this, Ma’am Vera (the executive secretary) called me and asked me to tell Ma’am May (HR Director) that the meeting is set at
2:30
in the afternoon that day. Apparently Ma’am Beth and Ma’am May is having a closed door meeting so I don’t know if I can disturb them. So what I did was to wait until they are done. It was almost
2:30
in the afternoon and they are not yet done and I am not yet telling it to Ma’am May, until I saw Ma’am Vera walking from her office going to Ma’am May’s office to check her. Ma’am Vera asked me " You didn’t tell her?" and I explained it to her. Ma’am May get out of her room with her Laptop with this words "She didn’t tell me." I was really so afraid that time I felt that the blood is going up my head. What I felt at that moment is that they were blaming me for the delays. After that incident I asked for an apology. Ma’am May told me its Ok and Ma’am Vera told me that whenever she will give a command do it ASAP and URGENT because it’s important it came from her boss, the executives of Makro. I’ve learned from this to be active and passive at the right time.
Most of the time what I’m doing in Makro is receiving phone calls and fax documents, filing of different files, photocopy, type documents for the bulletin board. It’s actually a routine that eventually I get used to do without grumbling because I learned to love it. The most important thing I learned in Makro is being punctual. People working in our department always come on time. I just get inspired with that attitude and lifestyle of work considering they already have the position. Slowly I began to adapt it because they set a good set example to me. The most valuable thing I acquired in Makro is the learning and knowledge of how is it working in a multi national company. It is somehow introduced of to the real world where you will meet different people with different personalities.
